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Recently I was engaged in one of the strangest discussions. The argument was put forward that if you attend an institution of higher learning related to training in biblical matters which didn’t avow certain doctrinal positions you were in sin and in need of repentance. Mind you, repentance was called for just because you listed the institution on your resume and didn’t give proper account as defined by the self-imposed judge as to why you attended that institution, as if it is anyone’s business. The crux of the matter stemmed from liberal institutions which don’t take conservative stands as it relates to doctrinal matters. The suggestion was made that because the teachers of the institution likely held positions similar to that of the institution then the students of that institution had willingly placed themselves in subjection to false teaching, and therefore had violated the mandates of God’s inspired word.

This seemingly pedestrian argument appeared to me on the surface to be an absurd position. Just because someone attends an institution of higher learning taking classes from teachers who may not hold conservative beliefs, that doesn’t mean the student adopts that view and becomes a disciple. I’m amazed that anyone could place themselves as judge condemning someone and calling them to repentance simply because of the institution of higher learning they attended. I thought it would be interesting to take a survey of some of the more prominent Bible teachers of today and see how they measured up to this rather fundamentalist view.

Gary Habermas, Ph.D., (1976), Michigan State University, History and Philosophy of Religion M.A., (1973), University of Detroit Philosophical Theology B.R.E., (1972), William Tyndale College Majors: Christian Education, Bible, Social Sciences Minors: Philosophy, Greek, English and Speech

D.A. Carson, He earned his B.S. (1967) in chemistry and mathematics from McGill University, his M. Div. from Central Baptist Seminary (Toronto), and his Ph.D.(1975) in the New Testament from the University of Cambridge.

Norman Geilser: William Tyndale College, 1950-55 (diploma); University of Detroit, 1956-57; Wheaton College, 1958 (B.A. in philosophy); Wheaton Graduate School, 1960 (M.A. in theology); William Tyndale College, 1964 (Th.B.); Wayne State University Graduate School, 1964 (work in philosophy); University of Detroit Graduate School, 1965-66 (work on M.A. in philosophy); Northwestern University, Evanston, 1968 (work in philosophy); Loyola University, Chicago, 1967-70 (Ph.D. in philosophy).

William Lane Craig; BA in communications from Wheaton College, Illinois in 1971 and two MA degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, Illinois in 1974 and 1975, in philosophy of religion and church history. He earned a Ph.D. at the University of Birmingham , England in 1977 and Ph.D. in theology under Wolfhart Pannenberg at the University of Munich in 1984.

R.C. Sproul; Sproul holds degrees from Westminster College, Pennsylvania (B. A., 1961), Pittsburgh - Xenia Theological Seminary (M. Div, 1964), the Free University of Amsterdam (Drs. 1969), and Whitefield Theological Seminary (Ph.D., 2001).

John Frame, Princeton University,  A.B. , Westminster Theological Seminary, B.D. Yale University, M.A., M. Phil.

Vern Pothyress, He earned a B.S. in mathematics from California Institute of Technology (1966) and a Ph.D. in mathematics from Harvard University (1970). After teaching mathematics for a year at Fresno State College (now California State University at Fresno), he became a student at Westminster Theological Seminary, where he earned an M. Div. (1974) and a Th. M. in apologetics (1974). He received an M. Litt. in New Testament from University of Cambridge (1977) and a Th.D. in New Testament from the University of Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch, South Africa (1981).

G.K. Beale, Ph.D. - Divinity, University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England (concentrated in Greek and Hebrew exegesis) 1981.Th.M. - Dallas Theological Seminary in Dallas, Texas, U.S.A. (concentrated in Greek, Hebrew, biblical and theological studies; graduated with honors in the Department of Semitics and Old Testament) 1976.M.A. - History, Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, U.S.A. (concentration in Augustinian and Reformation studies) 1976.B.A. - Humanities at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, U.S.A. (majored in Philosophy and History) 1971.

Wayne Grudem, B.A., Harvard University, M.Div., Westminster Theological Seminary, Ph.D., University of Cambridge

John Warwick Montegomery, Montgomery is a scholarly maverick who has 11 earned degrees in multiple disciplines: , philosophy, librarianship, theology and law. His degrees include: the A.B. with distinction in Philosophy (Cornell University;Phi Beta Kappa), B.L.S. and M.A. (University of California, Berkeley), B.D. and S.T.M. (Wittenburg University, Springfield, Ohio), LL.B. (La Salle Extension University), M. Phil. in Law (University of Essex, England), Ph.D. (University of Chicago), Th.D Doctorat d’Universite (University of Strausbourg), LLM and LLD in canon law (Cardiff University).

I wasn’t aware Michigan State, Cambridge, SMU, Yale, U.C. Berkeley, the University of Stellenbosch, University of Munich and the Free University of Amsterdam held conservative views on the inerrancy of Scripture or other Christian doctrine. Heck, did anyone know Dr. Geisler got his education from a school that advocates the emergent movement concepts? Based on the theory of the argument put forward all of the men above appear to be in need of repentance as the institutions of higher learning they received their education in some form of Biblical training don’t appear to be of a conservative nature. Are those making such absurd calls which unreasonably impose their ill-informed opinions in judgment upon others going to be consistent and call to repentance all those above? How could any of them knowingly receive training from false teachers in the matters of Biblical exegesis of the original languages, philosophy and other related issues? R.C. Sproul received his M. Div and Doctorate (see * below in comments section) from ecumenical institutions that appear to advocate rather liberal views. Would someone seriously contemplate these men are in sin because they’ve attended institutions pursuant to their “spiritual” education that didn’t necessarily hold to the essential doctrines of the Christian faith? Would someone seriously suggest these men need to place asterisks on their resumes pointing out they don’t endorse the conventional wisdom of the institution they attended? Burned any witches lately?

Clearly the argument that just because someone is a student at an institution of higher learning therefore they are in need of repentance and required to alert the public of that institutions deviations from conservative views is just silly. The hubris of the individuals which would call those to repentance manifests itself as nothing but arrogance of the ignorant. What’s next, a call to dial it back to the Dark Ages? I guess it is time to join Doc Brown and Marty for the ride of your life in the Delorean. Time to power up the “flux capacitor”!